Kindergarten Skills Checklist: Getting Ready for Kindergarten

Do you ever have families who want to know what Kindergarten skills their child needs to practice? It feels like every family I know with a preschooler wants to know what their child should be working on over the summer. This is great thing! I love when families are thinking ahead, and want their child to be as prepared as possible. And, if families ask you how to prepare their student, you want to be ready with a quick and easy answer!

Today, I have four categories of skills that future Kindergarteners can focus on over the summer to get ready for school. Stay tuned until the end for a FREE Kindergarten Skills checklist that you can print and pass out to families!

Literacy Skills:

I think many parents are already tuned into the idea that their child needs to work on literacy skills over the summer. Kindergarten is the year when their child will finally master reading, after all! Some simple at-home activities for literacy practice can include…

-Singing the ABCs

-Reading together before bed

-Reading and singing nursery rhymes

Math Skills:

Along with literacy skills, number sense and literacy are equally important in Kindergarten! Over the summer, future kindergarteners can keep math skills sharp by doing the following:

-Play board games that involve counting spaces

-Sort objects by color, size, shape, etc.

-Count, count, count! Count things you see outside, in your home, etc.

Fine Motor Skills:

I think that many families get so focused on the academic, they forget about the other skills that make all of the learning in kindergarten possible! Fine motor skills are a great example of this. There are so many fun, easy ways to practice fine motor skills at home. A few ideas are:

-Play with clay/play-doh

-Play with stickers (but be sure the child is the one peeling and sticking them, without help!)

-Squeeze water out of sponges in a sink or tub

Life Skills:

Similarly to fine motor skills, life skills make the academic learning in kindergarten easier for children. If they know all of their ABCs, but they have trouble with speaking and listening skills, there will be a lot of time lost in the classroom! Urge parents to be intentional with life skill practice. Some ideas are:

-Practice opening lunchbox containers on their own, and set a timer to show students how long they will have to eat

-Have conversations at the dinner table, and take turns asking questions and listening to others’ answers

-Set a morning and evening routine, and practice it daily

A Quick Note

As you pass these ideas onto families that you know, please make them aware of two things! First, this is far from an extensive list! There are so many things families can do to practice these skills. These ideas are meant to simply be a jumping off point. Second, if parents take a look at any of these items and feel that their child has a long way to go, let them know that these things do *not* have to be mastered before Kindergarten begins! The important thing is that the family is working together to help the child master these skills over time. The rate that it happens is not important.

I have a FREE printable checklist for you to grab for your prospective families! Each of these skill categories is included in the list, with the ideas you see here, plus many more! Pass these out at your ‘Meet the Teacher’ night this coming fall, put the download on your school webpage for all prospective families to print, or advertise through the school that there are copies in the front office for parents to swing by and grab through the summer!

You can grab the free download by clicking the button below. And, if you’re looking for more ideas on how to prepare students for kindergarten, take a look at THIS POST.